Album Of The Month: Demon Days

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Gorillaz bring the intoxicated groove on their sophomore effort.

By Spence D.

It's rather hard to believe that it's been damn near four long years since we last heard from the Gorillaz, a quartet of rag-tag animated illusions going by the name of 2-D, Noodles, Murdoc, and Russel. While cartoon bands (Josie & The Pussycats, Jabberjaw & The Neptunes, The Banana Splitz, etc.) are nothing new within the percolating slipstream of the pop culture lava flow, they have invariably been relegated to Saturday morning status. The Gorillaz blew this 2-dimensional containment out of the water, in a manner of speaking, by infiltrating the Internet, the radio airwaves, and slipping onto the late night cathode emission drift. They, in effect, elevated themselves out of the children's hour and into the global consciousness with a vengeance. The fact that they had powerful connections in the form of Dan "The Automator" Nakamura, Damon Albarn, Chris Franz and Tina Weymouth, Del, Cibo Matto, and renowned graphic designer Jaim Hewlett didn't hurt their cause celebre either.

2001's self-titled expansion into the world of aural ecstasy was a hit across the boards, giving indie kids something intelligent to dance to and club kids something indie to latch onto. Oh yeah, thanks to the presences of Del, it was easily the best ever example of Alternative rock melding perfectly with the linguistic boom-bap of rap. That the "group" could rekindle this same kind of energy, although admittedly they channeled it into a whole new direction, on their sophomore effort, is a testament to the creative forces at work behind the project. While Albarn and Hewlett are still on board, manipulating the pixels from behind the curtain, they enlisted a new cadre of creative "consultants" in the form of Danger Mouse, Roots Manuva, Dennis Hopper, Shaun Ryder, Maria Topley-Bird, to create a whole new level of animated aural bliss.

Why We Picked It: Given the novelty factor surrounding the original Gorillaz effortthe whole cartoon band anglenot to mention the fact that the "illusion" was readily destroyed by the press, as well as Albarn and company, in subsequent interviews, it would have been all to easy to dismiss a second project as lacking imagination and certainly that undeniable sense of magic that surrounded the first album prior to revealing who was lurking behind the proverbial curtain. However Albarn, Hewlett, and a new cast of musicians, not to mention the ever intriguing Danger Mouse, have yielded an album that in many ways eclipses the brilliance laid out on its predecessor. The music on Demon Days is darker, starker, and the better for it. Danger Mouse is an altogether different producer than The Automator, incorporating more malevolent, nightmarish ambient minimalism into the Gorillaz song structure to create a dreamlike sense of immersion. As such this album is a no-brainer, without a doubt early frontrunner for Best of 2005.